Single lever engine control



Oct. 6, 1959 MORSE ETAL 2,907,421

SINGLE LEVER ENGINE CONTROL Filed Oct. 4, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 BY DONALD W WANER AT TOR N EYS Oct. 6, 1959 J. F. MORSE ETAL 2,907,421

SINGLE LEVER ENGINE CONTROL Filed 001;. 4, 1957 Z Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS. JOHN F- MORSE 6 DONALD W. ANER ATTORNEYS Oct. 6, 1959 J. F. MORSE ET AL 2,907,421

SINGLE LEVER ENGINE CONTROL Filed Oct. 4, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG. 6

INVENTORS.

JOHN F. MORSE 8 DONALD W. WANER BY @LG ATTORNEYS United States Patent 2,907,421 SINGLE LEVER ENGINE CONTROL John F. Morse, Hudson, and Donald W. Waner, Munroe Falls,hio, assighors to The Morse Instrument Company, Hudson, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application October 4,1957, Serial No. 688,183 2 Claims. (Cl. 19 2.096)

The invention relates generally to a control unit having a single lever for controlling the clutch and throttle of an internal combustion engine, or other mechanism requiring sequencing controls. relates to a single lever control unit for normally operating the clutch and throttle in unison but adapted selectively to operate the throttle alone.

The primary object of the present invention is to provid'ean adjustment for selectively disconnecting the clutch operating shaft from the throttle operating shaft so that the throttle can be operatedthrough its full range with the clutch disengaged.

A further object is to provide for connection or disconnection of the clutch operating shaft with respect to the throttle operating shaft only while the clutch is held dis- "engaged from the forwardand reverse gear of the engine.

Thecontrol unit of the present invention is particularly adapted for the control of outboard marine engines, but may also be used for other engines operated by a reverse gear and throttle, as well asother devices operated by sequencing controls; The unit is compact and inexpensive to make, and is designed for proper and safe operation by anyone following their natural reactions.

The improved control unit has rotatable shafts mounted parallelism and adaptedfor operative connection with the throttle and clutch of an engine, said shafts being con- More particularly, the invention nected within the unit whereby the clutch control shaft is tion may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. '1 is a vertical sectional view of one embodiment of the improved single lever control unit, showing the control lever in'neutral or non-operating position.

Fig. 2 is a rear elevation thereof.

.TFig. 3 is a sectional view at right angles to Fig. l, as

Fig. 4 is a similar view showing the control lever in full li'nesin: its position Where the clutch is fully engaged and further movement of the lever'continues to advance the throttle without disturbing the clutch.

- Fig. 5 is asectio'nal view similar to Figs 3 of a modified embodiment of/the invention, with the control shafts. in

"neutral position; i Fig. his a similar h view with the control shafts in the positions (if-Fig. 4. t

shafts, as best shown in Fig. 3.

2,907,421 latented Qct..6, 1959 "ice Referring to the embodiment of Figs. 1-4, the nnit preferably comprises a housing having a front plate 10 and a rear plate 11. The plates are clamped. together in abutment by bolts 12 passing through registering countersunk holes in both plates. As shown, the inner abutting portion of the front plate -10 may have a laterally extending flange 13 around its periphery for mounting the unit on a suitable supportby means of bolts or screws 14.

The front plate 10 preferably has upper and lower journal bosses 15 and 16 formed therein, and the rear plate 11 has upper and lower journal bosses 17 and 18 registering with the journal bosses 15 and 16, respectively. A throttle operating shaft 19 is journaled in the upper bosses 15 and 17 and a clutch operating shaft 20 is journal'ed in the lower bosses 16 and 18.

The shafts 19 and 20 are 'ope'ratively connected to each other by suitable means such as the mutilated gears shown in Figs. 1-4, so that rotation of the shaft 19 in either direction will rotate shaft 20 in the: opposite direction during only an initial port-ion of the rotation of shaft '19, and the shaft 20 is held in a predetermined rotated position during further rotation of shaft 19 in the same direction as its initial rotation. Another mechanism which may be used to obtain substantially the same result is a Geneva'mech'anism such as shown in Figs. 5 and 6. "Other well-known mechanisms may be used, if desired, to obtain similar results. V

'In the embodiment of Figs. -1 to 4, a mutilated or inter- 'rupted gear 21 is'fixed on shaft 19 as by a pin' 22 between the journal bosses 15 and 17, and hasa toothed segmeat 23 on itslower portion. A mutilated (ii-interrupted gear 24 is mounted on shaft 20 between the journal bosses 16 and 18, and has an upper toothed segment 25 forfrrieshing with segment 23. P'referably,;the gear segrnent's have the same pitch diametergand the peripheral length of the segments is designed so that gear 24 will be rotated in the opposite direction from gear 21 "during 90 of rotation of gear 21. Y

The neutral positionof the gears is shown in Fig-Q3, rotation of gear 21 from neutral position45 in either direction will rotate gear 24 45 in the opposite direction, as shown in Fig. 4. A throttle operatinglever 26 is attached to the rear end of shaft 19 and a clutch operating lever arm 27 is attached to the rear endo'f shaft 20." The relative positions of these operating arms amentral and at 45 rotation in one direction is shown inchain lines in Figs. 3 and 4. In -the neutral position of the gears the throttleds set at idling speed and the clutch i'sfully disengaged. l The single operatinglever 28for the unit is [fixed on the front'end of throttle shaft at the face of the frontpla'tje 10. Preferably, the lever 28*has a split socket portion 30 clamped on the shaft 19 by a; set screws-1. The lever 28 is preferably clamped "on the shaft 19 so as to" "ein a vertical upright position in the neutral position of the The gear 24 is journaled on shaftZt), andrneans is provided for selectively keying the, gear [to the shaft'so that rotation of the gear 2.4 by gear 21 will either rotate the clutch control shaft 20 or allow the gear to idle on the shaft, as desired. This means comprises providing a pin 32 extending diametrically through the shaft with its ends projecting radially therefrom, and slots in the gear 24 and the journal boss 16 for receiving thepin selectively as the shaft is moved axially of the gear. Preferablfi-a knob 33 is fonrncd on the front end of shaft 20 tofacilitate grasping the shaft to moveit'axially, and a springbiased ball detent 34 is provided in boss 13th frictionally engage one'or the-other. of two annular grooves 35landi36,

I When the detent 34 engages groove 35, as shown in full lines in Fig. 1, the pin 32 is engaged in a slot 37 in gear 24, and when detent 34 engages groove 36 the pin 32 is engaged in a slot 38 in journal boss 16, as shown in chain lines in Fig. 1. In this embodiment, the slot 38 is vertically disposed and the slot 37 is arranged to be in vertical position when the gears are in neutral position.

Hence the only time the slots 37 and 38 are inregister .to permit axially shifting theshaft 20 is inthe neutral position of the gears, at which time the throttle is at idling speed and the clutch disengaged.

A spring-biased ball detent 40 is mounted in theupper I portion of flange .13 of the housing for frictionally engaging the upper periphery of gear 21, and a groove 41 .is provided in the gear to frictionally retain the gear 21 andshaft 1-9 in the neutral position. Similar notches or grooves 42 may be provided on opposite sides of groove ,41 at 45" therefrom to indicate to the operator by feel the positions at which the clutch is fully engaged. I

The lever arms 26 and 27 are operatively connected with the throttle and clutch of the engine by any suitable and well-known means, such as flexible push-pull cables, push rods, etc. As indicated in Fig. 2, when the control unit is in neutral position with the control lever vertical, the throttle control arm 26 is horizontal and the clutch control arm 27 is vertical and depending downwardly from shaft 20 and at 90 to arm 26. The arm 26 may be connected at 46 by a push rod (not shown) to a throttle operating lever at a point A in horizontal alignment with the arm.

As the control lever is :rotated clockwise, as seen in Fig.

2, to the 45 position shown in chain lines, -it wi1l be seen that the point A moves only a slight amount to the position A because the initial movementissubstantially .along the tangent tothe arc ofmovement'of arm 26.

Thus, allowing for the usual amount of backlash in the .cable system, the throttle setting is advanced only a slight amount during the first 45 of movement of the arm 26,

and as seen in Fig. 4 this 45 of movement moves the clutch lever 27 45 in the opposite direction to fully engage theclutch. If desired, suitable means for controlling the amount of backlash may be provided.

position, the point A moves a substantial distance to positionA which advances the throttle to full open position with the clutch engaged. Reverse rotation of the control lever 90 from neutral will engage the clutch and drive the engine in the opposite direction.

h In the embodiment of .Figs. 5 and 6 the housing is.

substantially the same construction as the housing in Figs. 1-'4, and includes a front plate 110 having a laterally extending flange 113. Thethrottle control and clutch control shafts 119 and 120are shown somewhat smaller in diameter, and have the throttle and clutch operating levers 26 and 27 attached to their rear ends in the same relative positions as in Figs. 3 and 4. i The operating lever 28 ;is attached to the front end of thethrottle control shaft 119 and is vertically upright in the neutral position of the shafts.

In this embodiment the shafts are operatively connected V to each other by a Geneva mechanism comprising intermeshing drive elements or cams 121 and 124 on the shafts 119 and 120, respectively. The cam 121 has a transversely slotted projection 143 with a pin 144 at its outer end which, I

in-the neutral position, is located at the bottom of a radial slot 148 formed in a projection, 149 on the cam 124. The. projection 149 extends into the transversely slotted projection 143, as shown- The cam 121 is. fixed on shaft in the right amount at the right time.

119 by a pin 122, and the cam 124 is selectively keyed to shaft 120 by a pin 132. The pin 132 is horizontal in the neutral position of the shafts, and is movable with axial movement of the shaft 120 selectively into a horizontal slot 137 in cam member or an aligned horizontal slot 138 in the housing. Axial movement of shaft 120 is possible only when the shafts are in neutral with the slots 137 and 138 in register.

As the control lever 128 is rotated clockwise from the neutral position of Fig. 5 to the 45 position shown in full lines in Fig. 6, the throttle control shaft 119 is rotated 45 clockwise and the shaft 120 is rotated 45 counterclockwise by the sliding engagement of pin 144 in slot 148. Further rotation of shaft 119 in a clockwise direction causes pin 144 to leave slot 148, and the shaft 120 remains stationary as the shaft 119 is rotated to the position shown in chain lines. During said further rotation the concave surface -150 ,of projection 149 rotatively engages the convex cylindrical surface of cam 121, so that clutch control shaft and arm 27 is maintained in the 45 position with the clutch engaged, as the throttle arm 26 is fully advanced to the 90 position.

It will be seen that by shifting the'shaft 20 or mmly when the control lever 28 is in neutral position, the clutch control gear 24 or cam 124 may be engaged with or disengaged from driving connection with said shaft. Thus,

'the engine may be run from idling speed to full throttle without engaging the clutch, when it is desired to check the engine speed at higher r.p.m.. than at neutral, 'or for starting the engine, or in order to run auxiliary equipment, or for any other reason.

However, as a safety feature, the clutch operating gear can only be disconnected atsneutral position, and

once it is disconnected it can not be reconnected without returning the throttle to neutral position.

The normal operation .of the improved unit is simple and foolproof because a single lever controls the whole operation. If theunit is used to control the operation of a marine engine, pushing the lever forward moves the boat forward and pushing it reversely moves the boat backward. Thus a persons natural reactions, even if excited or confused, result in making the right move There is no chance of mistaking the clutch lever for the throttle lever or vice'versa. Moreover, the reverse gear of the engine is protected from damage because the throttle is automatically closed when the clutch is disengaged.

What is claimed is:

1. A control unit for the clutch and throttle of an engine, comprising a housing, a throttle control shaft and a clutch control shaft journaled in said housing, a control lever fixed on said throttle control shaft, a drive element secured on saidthrottle control shaft, a drive element journaled on said clutch control shaft, said elements having meshing portions to operate said" clutch control shaft only during part of the rotation of the throttle control shaft in either direction from a neutral position, a drive pin in said clutch control shaft and slots in the element thereon and in the housing for receiving said pin when the shaft is moved axially, and said slots being in register only when the shafts are in neutral position. i r

2. A control unit for the clutch and throttle of an engine, comprising a housing, a throttle control shaft and a clutch control shaft journaled in said housing, a control lever fixed on said throttle control shaft, a drive element secured on said throttle control shaft; a drive element journaled on said clutch control shaft, said'ele ments having meshing portions tooperate said clutch control shaft only during part of the rotation of the throttle control shaft in-either direction from. av neutral position, a drive pin in said clutch control shaft and slots in the element thereon and in the housing for receivingsaid pin when the shaft is moved axially, said slots being in register only. when the shafts are References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Higgins Aug. 26, Morse Mar. 11, Morse -l Jan. 10,

Manzolillo Aug. 21, 

